Report reveals the Premier League footballers who have received the most online racist abuse this season

Liverpool and Arsenal players were targeted the most.

Liverpool strikers Mario Balotelli and Daniel Sturridge and Arsenal attacker Danny Welbeck were the three most racially abused footballers on social media this season. A report by anti-discrimination body Kick It Out reveals that Balotelli is the most targeted having received more than 4,000 racist messages. Sturridge and Welbeck have also each received more than 1,000 discriminatory messages. The research, which was carried out by Tempero and Brandwatch, estimates there have been 134,000 discriminatory posts this season, and 39,000 were aimed at Premier League stars. Balotelli received over 8,000 abusive message with half being racist, Welbeck received 1,700 of which half were racist, and Sturridge was targeted 1,600 times and 60% of them were based on sexual orientation. Kick It Out's research found that Twitter was the main source of the abuse with 88% of messages coming from there. It's shocking stuff. Hat-tip to Telegraph.